With the number of major music labels getting smaller and smaller and the number of bands competing for the spotlight growing exponentially, many groups are taking the recording industry into their own hands and doing it all independently. One such band is Cartel. Frustrated with the constraints of working with a label, they put together their latest EP, entitled In Stereo, entirely on their own (for more on the new music, check out our review of the release here). We caught up with lead singer Will Pugh to talk about the process of setting out on their own, the results, and what’s next for Cartel.
Q: A lot of change has happened to the band over the last couple of years. Tell us a little about the journey that got you guys to where you are today?
A: I guess it started really back in March. We were doing some shows. They were the first shows we’d done in a while because we were doing it as a four-piece so we were kinda discussing what the four-piece dynamic was gonna be with the band. Everything just kinda came out on the table between the label stuff and everything else, we were kinda just in between cycles – pun kind of intended with the last record title but not really – we were in between cycles on the record so we wanted to make sure that we had a good idea of what we could do in the future just because it was getting time to act.
It had been year and a half, and we were getting frustrated with the idea that it takes two years between records ‘cause we have a lot more material than that, we’ve written a lot more songs than that. So we feel like if we got more of that out there that it’d be the best way to continue the band. With that, we kinda decided we’re gonna go on the self-release model without a label, self-produce it, do all this other stuff to basically minimize, to cut out the middlemen. It makes it a lot easier for us to get things done and that’s basically the last six months have been us just putting that into action.
Q: What was the recording process like this time around?
A: It was a lot smoother ‘cause we didn’t really have to go into preproduction or do any of those other things. We wrote, and we honed the songs in practice live. To play them live, that’s the best way that we could ever represent it outside of the record. We wanted to make sure that we got it as good as we could play it together before we ever started tracking just to make sure there were no questions so everybody just knew how to do their part. So we knocked it out pretty fast. Most of the time taken was basically because I was producing it so there was a little bit of a learning curve with trying to figure out exactly what I was supposed to do to get ready for mixing and things like that. But other than that, it was really fun, carefree. There was no stress involved; it was just like “Let’s do it. Cool. Sounds great. Let’s go.”
Q: The sound of the In Stereo was much more like Chroma than any of your more recent work. How did you get back to that place again?
A: Basically, Chroma and Ransom EP were done the same way, where we had to get in there and track it, there wasn’t enough time or budget to sit there and spend a lot of effort or a lot of days trying to perfect something. So it’s really just as natural as it could possibly be. With the exception of “Q&A” and “Minstrel’s Prayer” and “Save Us” too, with Chroma all the rest of the songs were pretty identical in the way they were recorded. We were playing them that way in practice, we went in and recorded them that way. I would say that’s probably why they sort of ended up sounding the same way. I mean, I don’t know, beyond that I don’t have a good reason.
Q: Lyrically, where were you coming from on the EP?
A: We were in a place where we felt like we wanted to – I don’t know how I should put it – we just were kinda frustrated with where we were at. Not necessarily musically, we’re proud of where we’re at musically. But it was just the process of everything and so many different things come into talks when you’re doing records that has nothing to do with music that just bums me out and bums us all out. Getting away from that was kind of more freeing in the process lyrically. It’s not like we had somebody saying “Give me a song that’s not a love song” or “Give me a song, we need more love songs,” anything like that, nothing came into play. It’s really nothing different as far as the approach lyrically. When the leash is taken off, it gets a lot easier to work without constraints.
Q: Is there one song off of In Stereo that you think really defines the direction Cartel is going musically?
A: I would say it’s a blend of songs. I would say each song on the EP is an archetype of Cartel. Whereas “Lessons in Love” is more of the singles you’ve heard from Cartel with “Honestly” and “Say Anything (Else)” and things like that. “Conduit” represents more of where we’re gonna lean when we start to experiment a little bit. “American Dreams” is kinda what the ballads are gonna sort of sound like. “In Stereo” is very punk, kind of on purpose. And then “Something to Believe” is just we just wanna rock. That’s kinda the five aspects of Cartel without the soft ballad or the electronic stuff we can do, more reserved for full-lengths than they are EPs but I’m sure we’ll delve into the trippy side once again at some point in time.
Q: What has the response from fans been so far to the new music?
A: It’s been great, we couldn’t have asked for more. Just being receptive and supportive of the new direction business-wise, I guess you would say, which really has nothing to do with it but our interaction with them. Musically I think it’s been very well received and we’re very happy to hear that.
Q: What’s planned for the upcoming U.S. tour?
A: I guess the Hot Rod Circuit thing is the only real U.S. tour we have. That’s just gonna be fun, ‘cause those guys are awesome. They’re older than us; we haven’t really toured with bands that are older than us in a while, so it’ll be fun to get out with some guys kind of in our own age group and have some good old-fashioned fun.
Q: Where do you see the band going in the coming years?
A: I would say just continuing what we’re doing, trying to grow it. Self-release model is a very small impact for us because we can only get it out digitally for now, so I’d like to get some sort of physical distribution for future releases, just more wide-spread distribution. But we knew we had to start small to get it right, so now that we know we have this process down, on-lock, know exactly how to do it right, we can move forward and start expanding. So I would say musically nothing’s gonna change with Cartel. We’re gonna keep doing what we’re doing, expand and grow and bring different influences in but without changing the sound too much. And I would say fans can expect to get a lot more content from us, a lot more special things outside of music once we are able to kinda get in the flow of doing all this ourselves.
Q: Anything else on the horizon for the next coming months?
A: We’re going to Australia right before the Hot Rod Circuit thing. Other than that we’re gonna take the holidays off. Probably do a hometown holiday show, that’s pretty standard for us, tradition. Then start looking at spring tours and getting another EP out sometime early next year.
In Stereo is available for digital download now, and you can catch Cartel live at Ottobar in Baltimore on November 21.
